David Dunn's penalty gives Blackburn Rovers a controversial derby win

Sunday 28 March 2010 15.36 EDT
First published on Sunday 28 March 2010 15.36 EDT

Burnley have not won English football's bitterest sideshow since the 1979 general election was in full swing and after their last defeat in October, their fans unveiled a banner that proclaimed: "Beaten But Still Above You." Five months later they were beaten by Blackburn Rovers again but the only club Burnley are still above is Portsmouth and, without Portsmouth's nine-point deduction, they would not be above them by very much.

The hatred in this match is famously intense. Trouble flared again today with the Football Association likely to investigate after coins were thrown at Blackburn players and the referee Mike Dean. There were unconfirmed reports that five stewards and two policemen had been taken to hospital. And when the final whistle sounded at Turf Moor the mood was of resignation as well as anger, a realisation that barring a run of results of a kind Burnley have never threatened under Brian Laws they will be relegated.

"Everyone will write us off now, saying we are down, we are finished," said Laws. "Perhaps even our supporters will but, while it is mathematically possible, we will keep fighting, although we may need three or four wins."

The blunt truth is that their last four wins have been spread over 26 matches. They have six remaining. And yet, although they were outplayed, there was a sense of injustice about the manner of Burnley's defeat. As Martin Olsson ran through on goal, Brian Jensen went to meet him but there seemed no contact between goalkeeper and midfielder as the Swede fell in the area. Laws thought it a dive and claimed the referee, Mike Dean, had been "conned".

Premier League managers are so one-eyed when it comes to video evidence that a panel of them could have studied the film of the Kennedy assassination and retuned a verdict of suicide. However, Sam Allardyce came as close as he could to agreeing with his opposite number. "When you see the video replays and slow it down, it does look a little bit harsh," said the Blackburn manager. "But from where I was sat in the stands it looked like a penalty and I was jumping up and down like a lunatic. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck."

It fell to David Dunn to take the penalty. The former Burnley manager, Stan Ternent, once remarked that there was a "Berlin Wall running through Accrington" that divided these two mill towns and Dunn grew up near it in the village of Great Harwood. As he went up to take the kick, he found himself running towards a forest of V-signs in the Jimmy McIlroy Stand. He was not put off.

This, however, was not the end of the controversy. When Wade Elliott was brought down by Chris Samba just before the interval, the screams for a penalty would have been heard in Yorkshire. Dean judged, correctly, that contact had been made outside the area. However, Laws wondered why he had taken no action against the Blackburn keeper, Jason Brown, for handling outside his area.

Olsson, whose pace and positioning Burnley seldom came to terms with, could have had a hat-trick. A fabulous drive that crashed down from the underside of Jensen's bar may have crossed the line and moments later the elusive Swede forced him to make a one-handed parry.

Brown was required to do nothing so acrobatic and the only chance Burnley created was a cross from Danny Fox that skidded across the face of his goal. After their second away win of the season, both of which have been within 15 miles of Ewood Park, Blackburn are 10th, precisely where Burnley were when that banner was unfurled. Allardyce hoped his team would be given more credit and hear less talk about "the long-ball crap" although there could be no other reason why a linesman would be wearing a cap as the ball was pumped high into the spring sunshine.